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the Degree Confluence Project
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Botswana : North-West (ex Ngamiland)

17.1 km (10.6 miles) NNE of Shaleshanto, North-West, Botswana
Approx. altitude: 920 m (3018 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 19°N 156°W

Accuracy: 7 m (22 ft)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: View to the South #3: View to the West #4: View to the North #5: View to the East #6: GPS at the site #7: The Savuti Marsh - End of cutline on horizon #8: Recovering the "lost" vehicle

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  19°S 24°E (visit #2)  

#1: The Confluence

(visited by Julian Stewart, Irene Vos, Kim Robson, Wayne Talbot, Joanne Brayshaw, Adri Brewis, Rudi Brewis, Keith Stewart, Lawrence Fowle, James Fowle and Jordan Vos)

07-Apr-2007 -- Continuing on from the visit to 19S 25E, the party was reduced to three vehicles travelling west along the cut line on 19S towards Savuti. The trip was a pleasant one as there was more and more wildlife as we got closer to Savuti. We recorded sightings of elephant, wildebeest, zebra, eland, giraffe, and steenbok.

As suspected from the images of the intended route on Google Earth, the track waned from a broad cut line into a single track and finally disappeared completely in the grassland of the Savuti marsh about 4 km from the Confluence and 6 km from the Savuti access road. The end of the cut line can be seen on the horizon as a break in the tree line.

The Savuti marsh is now a misnomer as the area is a huge expanse of grassland rather than a marsh. Many years ago it was a marsh when waters from the Okavango Delta fed into the area. Subsequently, subtle shifts in the earth's crust have diverted the water flow elsewhere. Traversing the area in the rainy season may still be a challenge due to the silt deposited over the millennia.

Following the GPS across the grassland took considerable time as the ground was littered with aardvark excavations. The party was held up for some time as one of the vehicles was "lost" down one such hole.

We finally reached the Confluence after 4 p.m. and celebrated the arrival at the spot from the opposite direction to the previous visitors. Although we were not the first to the Confluence, we were proud to have reached it from the "long way round".


 All pictures
#1: The Confluence
#2: View to the South
#3: View to the West
#4: View to the North
#5: View to the East
#6: GPS at the site
#7: The Savuti Marsh - End of cutline on horizon
#8: Recovering the "lost" vehicle
ALL: All pictures on one page